Possession by icemink
Chapter #21 - The Initiative
 
Chapter 22: The Initiative

Slowly Spike came to, blinking several times as he tried to see in the unnaturally bright environment. His whole body still ached from the tasers the Initiative had used to capture him.

The pristine white walls that reflected the harsh fluorescent light made it seem as if the light was coming from all directions at once, and it gave him a throbbing headache. All he wanted was to crawl into a nice dark cave, sewer, or even a dungeon. Somewhere a vampire belonged.

As his eyes adjusted, he noticed there was one thing breaking up the flat surface beneath him, a hospital blood bag. Thinking a bit of blood would help his headache, he reached for it.

"I wouldn't drink that, it's drugged," an unfamiliar voice said.

Spike looked up. In a matching cell across the way was another vampire. He was young looking, a teenager when he'd been turned, and had rather floppy brown hair.

"Yeah?" Spike asked. "And who are you?" He squinted at the other vampire. There was something familiar about him although Spike couldn't recall seeing him before. Of course it was hard to think about much of anything at the moment.

"I was going to ask you that," the other vampire replied.

"Well I asked first," Spike snapped back.

He closed his eyes against the painful light. It helped him focus the rest of his senses. Which wasn't much help because the only thing he could smell in the sterile environment was himself. However, that other sense, the feeling in his bones that came from the demon, did clue him in on a couple of things. The other vampire was little more than a fledge, and he was also another member of The Order of Aurelius.

That wasn't all that surprising considering this was Darla's domain, and had been the Master's before her, so most of the vampire population in Sunnydale would be of the Aurelian line.

"You're not from around here," the annoying young git, as Spike was beginning to think of him, said.

"Aren't you bloody Sherlock Homes?" He decided it wasn't worth trying to argue over who said their name first. Besides the kid had probably heard of him, and that would make thing easier. "And the name's Spike."

"That's lame. I'm Xander."

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm legendary. I've killed two slayers, cut a bloody swath through Europe and done lots of other things that I can't think of with that damn light on."

"Yeah, well. None of that's really going to matter here. And you better get used to the light, it never goes off."

The lights blinked out.

"You were saying?" Spike snickered, sliding into game face to see in the darkness.

Xander didn't reply. As Spike watched, the brunette started to hurl himself against the plastic door to his cage. From both sides, Spike could hear other demons who were also trying to use the power outage to escape.

"Hey, genius boy," Spike yelled over the racket. "The light's being out isn't going to make this stuff any less strong. Which way does it open?"

"Left to right," Xander called back, as he stopped pounding on the plastic and tried to slide the door open.

Spike mimicked Xander's actions, trying every which way to force it open, but the smooth surface wouldn't budge.

"Bugger," Spike cursed. "The things must have gotten stuck locked when the power went down."

"Well, yeah," a familiar girl's voice said. "Otherwise any interruption in the power supply would result in a complete prison break."

"Wil?" Xander called out.

"Xander!" the red head cried out excitedly as she pressed her hand against the transparent barrier.

But Spike's attention was on her companion.

"Hey," Buffy said. "Sorry about the whole getting you captured thing."

"Tell you what," Spike said, hoping that he sounded his usual snarky self. "Get me out of here and we'll call it even."

The truth was Spike was feeling a bit emotional. He vaguely remembered the soldiers leaving Buffy behind, and although he had hoped for a rescue, he hadn't been counting on one, especially not this quickly. Or maybe he'd just been unconscious for a lot longer than he'd thought.

"Not a problem," Willow said.

She had what looked like a camcorder bag slung over her shoulder along with a pair of jumper cables. As Spike watched, she pried off the locking mechanism of Xander's cage, then she hooked one end of the jumper cables into her bag, which he realized held a car battery. Then she hooked the other end into the wires she'd exposed in the wall.

Sparks flew from the end of the jumper cables and the doors to every cell on that side jerked as the locks released. Demons shoved the doors aside and flooded into the hallway.

"That way to get out guys," Willow called out pointing to the direction she and Buffy had come from.

There was a momentary stampede, and a continual roar as the demons on Spike's side continued to rattle their cages.

"Hurry up," Buffy prodded Willow.

"Don't worry," Willow assured her. "It'll take them awhile to round up all those demons."

"Yeah, and that'll also be time for them to block off the entrance, so get a move on, Red," Spike demanded impatiently. He wasn't at all happy that Xander had been let out first.

"You know," Willow complained as she pried off the plate to his cell's lock. "You'd think you'd be happy that we went to all this trouble to rescue you, especially considering you were the one who was supposed to be the big champion and bring down the Initiative."

"Wait, you're here to rescue him?" Xander complained. "I've been in here for over a month, and you come for the bad dye job?"

"We thought you were dead," Willow said apologetically.

Then she shorted out the locks on Spike's side like she had on Xander's side.

"Think maybe this can wait until we're out of here?" Spike said, as he started to follow the new stampede of escaping demons.

"Hold on," Buffy said, pulling him against the wall to allow the demons to pass.

"Shouldn't we be escaping?" Spike asked.

"We will, just wait a moment," she told him.

Once the last of the demons had fled down the hallway Willow started heading in the opposite direction.

"I thought that was the way out?" Xander asked pointing the way the demons had gone.

"It is," Buffy told him as she followed Willow. "At least it's the main exit, so if we're luckily that's where the Initiative will try and stop all the escapees."

"So we're headed. . ." Spike prompted.

"To the cafeteria," Willow answered.

"You mean the blonde isn't a snack?" Xander said.

"Don't even think about it, whelp" Spike snarled at Xander. "And why are we headed to the cafeteria?" he asked Willow.

"Because it's next to the kitchen," she explained. "Which is next to all the food storage which is right by the loading dock."

"And that's our way out," Buffy finished. "There should be enough distractions that there should only be a few if any guards." She turned smiling to Spike. "Neat plan huh?"

"Not bad, Slayer," he agreed. "Not bad at all."